Thursday, December 20, 2007

The Falls Church [VA] News Press carries this story about the work of the CANA Anglicans. Their story was headlined: "Defectors from Episcopal Church Revert to Ban on Women Priests."

Never mind that the recently-minted bishop Minns says he can hold his "two integrities." While trying to hold two integrities, apparently he has to throw one of them into the dustbin.

The article begins:

Not only does it denounce homosexuality, but it turns out the new, Nigerian-linked association of defectors from the Episcopal Church, U.S.A. also rejects the notion of women in the priesthood, at least for the time being. This is the group that a majority of parishioners at historic The Falls Church voted to align with a year ago.

But while this group, which currently occupies the facilities at The Falls Church pending the outcome of a lawsuit next month, has stepped back from gender and sexual equality, those who did not vote to defect, calling themselves “Continuing Episcopalians,” have become a thriving force in the City of Falls Church. Gathering to worship “off site” weekly, they’ve most recently struck a partnership with a local non-profit to help disadvantaged families over the holidays that has been hailed by Falls Church Mayor Robin Gardner.

As for the defectors, the new so-called Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), described as a “mission” of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, held a ceremony in Herndon, Virginia, last week to consecrate four new bishops, all male and two from Nigeria. The ceremony was led by CANA head Rev. Martyn Minns of Fairfax’s Truro Church, another defecting congregation.

In his remarks at the ceremony, Minns said, “At this time, the Church of Nigeria, to which we owe canonical obedience, has no provision for the ordination of women.”

By aligning with the Nigerian church, therefore, CANA repudiated a decision taken by the Episcopal Church, U.S.A. in 1976 to permit the ordination of women.

Minns added, “I am fully aware that this is a topic of concern for many clergy and congregations throughout CANA and one that produces intense reactions.”

He said he’s appointed a task force to study the matter from the standpoint of what he called “two integrities” of the issue, namely, adamant opposition to the ordination of women, on the one hand, and an array of alternatives ranging from some diminished role for women in the leadership of the church to ordination, on the other.“We will keep our promise to honor both integrities within CANA and fulfill our commitment to the full participation of women in the life and leadership of the church,” he said. “We will do so in such a manner that both those who are unable to support the ordination of women and those who embrace it will know that their position has been honored.”

But Minns did not offer any further clarification on how both opponents and supporters of the ordination of women would come away happy.

I wonder. How do the women in CANA and its affiliates – including the women who are priests in the Diocese of Pittsburgh – feel about this development? Are those women beginning to accept that (according to their new overseers) they were "ontologically incapable" of having been made priests in the first place? Are they beginning to recognize that their "female parts" make them as hated as are the homosexuals in those dioceses? It will be interesting to see what comes of the women who are priests – or are they now "priests in quotation marks"? – in those schismatic dioceses.

7 Comments:

I agree with Rowan. Why should this come as any surprise? If they are to be as 'pure' as their interpretation of the bible goes, then they would have to chuck women priests. I just can't believe that an intelligent woman would buy into this but I guess if you feel that strongly, you will.

Misogyny is alive and well and abroad in the world. And where misogyny is homophobia follows.

Oh wait, in this case, homophobia was there waiting for his brother misogyny to show up.

There they sit they can do no other.

Women can be as gullible as men can, though one always has to ask:why anyone would want to join a club where they are second class members from the outset? why are people so masochistic as to join a group that denegates them?

I agree with you all most heartily. (Of course! Otherwise, why would I have posted this story?)

But there's another angle, on which nobody seems yet to be commenting. The Lion of Nigeria says "There shall be no women priests." The pussy-cat of CANA -- who pledged obedience to Nigeria -- now says "Oh, that's right; we aren't supposed to have any women priests. So we'll launch a study." What the heck is that about??? Did Minns pledge obedience to the dictator or Nigeria, or did he not? Why isn't anybody asking that question??

And, yes, I do wonder how the priests who are women in places like Pittsburgh can go marching in lockstep -- as did the women who attended the consecrations in Abuja earlier this year. Those poor, dear women!

I think one need only consider the case of Alice Linsley, a former Episcopal priest who has renounced her orders and joined the Orthodox Church. For a while she was (and still may be) resident "theologian" on Brad Drell's site. Talk about self-hatred disguised as Christianity. When one reads what she writes and gets a whiff of extreme ecclesiastical misogyny from a woman, one has to wonder about those other collared women who find themselves in CANA or AMiA or perhaps even the future ACN. We can only pity them and pray that someday they will again see themselves as formed completely in the image of God rather than as broken reflections.

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About Me

I'm a progressive Episcopalian raised in the South and now (thanks to a job change) living in the conservative Midwest. I worship at Grace Episcopal Church in Jefferson City. I love the Episcopal Church, which rescued me from a life of wandering meaningless and gave me a way to explore my faith and belief in God.
On any given topic, I am prone to yammer-on way too long. Sometimes I ponder way more than I should.
A blog-friend said that I demonstrate a "muscled love for our Church." I hope I can live up to that.
And right now I'm pondering Blogger's challenge to define myself in 1200 characters.